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  1. #1
    esianoyam3 Guest

    Default Baby refuses to latch!!


    My baby is now 4 days old. She was not eating very well at the hospital- in fact, there was one point when she didn't eat for more than 8 hours (I TRIED waking her up and getting her to feed, but she wouldn't). They tested her blood sugar, and she was fine, so they told me not to worry about it.

    Yesterday was our first day home from the hospital. She didn't eat from the time we left the hospital (about 4:00) until we took her to the ER the next day. At the ER, they gave me a bottle of pedialyte and said that I could talk to my doctor, who hadn't been in that day because she'd had a couple of crazy deliveries at 2 different hospitals.

    We took her home from the ER, and she latched on and ate very well for a couple of feedings. It's now 5:30 in the morning and we've been up with her all night. She reaches a point at about 11:00 at night where she refuses to latch on. She gets very fussy, tries to eat for a couple of seconds, and then pulls away and just butts her head against my breast and shakes her head getting more and more frustrated. She'll do this all day long, until the afternoon, when she'll eat for a couple of feedings. I'm at my wits end (and so is DH- he's tired of watching me bawl my eyes out feeling like I'm a breast feeding failure).

    I don't know what to do at this point. My breasts are so engorged they feel like they've been filled with hot coals- I think it's part of why the baby won't latch on. Every time she crise, which is constantly, I start leaking heavily from both breasts.

    Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

    TIA,

    Shallyse



  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Podunk, GA.
    Posts
    704

    Default RE: Baby refuses to latch!!

    Shallyse, regarding your daughter's eating, I would recommend taking her to the pediatrician or, if you have access to one, a lactation consultant (call the nursery at the hospital to ask if there's one in your community). You can also try contacting someone at La Leche League (http://www.lalecheleague.org/contact.html) -- they have a feature where if you send an e-mail, within a day or two you can get a reply from a real live person who's knowledgeable about breastfeeding issues. I've used this before and found it helpful. (The La Leche League website also has FAQs.)

    Regarding engorgement, it's probably difficult for your daughter to latch on if you're all full like that -- I'd recommend trying to express some milk first before trying to feed her. What helped me when I had this problem was to fill a large bowl or loaf pan with warm water and then lean over it, dunking my breasts into the warm water. I would stay like that for 5-10 minutes, sometimes squeezing along the sides of my breasts to express some milk out. (You could also do this in the bathtub or shower.) It's unlikely, I think, that you'd completely empty yourself of milk by doing this. What you want is to get some milk out so that it's easier for your baby to latch on to the nipple. For leaking, I suggest wearing cloth nursing pads and only exposing one breast at a time.

    You should also, as you've already figured out, make sure that you keep in contact with your doctor because you don't want to get an infection (mastitis).

    I know breastfeeding is difficult at first; please don't regard yourself as a failure, because lots of people have problems with getting established. I hope this helps.

    Ellen
    Mom to Laura 6/9/03

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